Omnia vincit amor et nos cedamos amori
by Nantena
Summary: In search of a new life, Iulia arrives at the Black Order. Here she meets new friends, lunatics and a prettyface with no manners at all. But like they say, love conquers all... NO NEW CNAPTERS, BEING REWRITTEN! Note in "chapter" 10
1. In Medias res

Hello! I would like to present to you, my new and awesome KandaXOC-story! But first the details;

**I owe nothing** of this except my Iulia, and the rating is because of foul language and, well you can guess there will be sexual content later on. Perhaps some violence, maybe in combination with the previously mentioned... If we're so lucky...

**Chapter # 1: **_**In medias res**_

[Iulia POV]

Standing outside what was supposed to be the Black Order, I was more than a little bit confused at the oddity of the place, but mostly I was downright pissed. To stand in front of a Leaning Tower of Pisa-wannabe building after having to_ climb_ up a MOUNTAIN all day, with the August-sun burning, AND - don't forget – the evil branch that suddenly just pointed out from the mountainside, making a rather... _interesting_ looking rip at the front of my shirt. Fantastic, I'm now officially hated by God.

"Good, because you can just sod off you too... Am I supposed to shout, knock, or something... riverdance maybe?" I thought sourly while looking around for someone or something that looked somewhat safe to approach. "If this is the place i've been searching for for years, I hope they have better decorating indoors."

"Hello? Anyone at home?" I called out. No answer.

"My name is Iulia, I'm an exorcist and I've come here to speak to the one in charge of this place!" I tried again. Still no answer, are they deaf or something?!

Unable to find someone to ask for guidance, I then looked at the large gate with a face on it and leaned towards it and raised my hand, redy to knock when suddenly...

_Meanwhile inside the tower__..._

"Oi, supervisor, someone's outside the gate!"

Shouted the section leader of the Science department known as Reever Wenham. He was slumped back in a chair in front of a number of screens, showing the surroundings of the tower. In the room were several other scientists, among them of course the supervisor Komui Lee who was currently enjoying his fifth afternoon nap of the day. When no answer was received, Reever walked up to the man, whispered in his ear; "Lenalee is going to elope with General Cross and join a brothel"

"NOOOOOOOO!!! NOT MY PRECIOUSSS! MY PRECIOUS LITTLE BABYSISTER LENALEE, WAAAHHH...

**SMACK**

"I'm not."

Komui was interrupted by a kick in the head from said sister, who looked like she'd actually rather run away with the good for nothing-womanizer of a General than endure this madness. That is, if he'd even show up. Quickly composing himself, Komui walked up to the screen Reever was referring to.

"A girl huh... She looks so young, how on earth did she manage to climb up to here? I wonder what she wants..." he mused while inspecting what he saw.

They all looked at the girl through the monitor. She looked no older than 16, she had shoulder length auburn hair and quite pale skin. She was of average length, and wore a black waisted trenccoat that reached down to her knees.

"Hello?" the girl suddenly said. "Anyone at home?" she continued "My name is Iulia, I'm an exorcist and I've come here to speak to the one in charge of this place!"

Their eyes widened in surprise at her last sentence. A new exorcist, why hadn't they heard of this before? Shouldn't a General have sent word about having a new apprentice?

"Do you think she's speaking the truth?" asked Lenalee suddenly, looking at her brother.

"I don't know, let's have her examined by the Gate keeper to see if she's okay, then we can let her in and see for ourselves. Lenalee, go down and get ready to greet her, or kick her down the edge of the mountain if she's an akuma!" answered Komui while still watching girl who was asking to enter Black Order Headquarters.

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End of chapter #1!! YAAY!!

A/N: the title of the story is in Latin, and it means _"Love conquers all, and let us be conquered by love"_ Originally it was written by the poet Virgilius, but I just generally like it and wanted to use it here. The title of this chapter means "_In mid-affairs" _and means to start off a story in the middle of the plot, so to speak. It's a bit hard to explain in English, but you can always look it up or something.

Another thing, the plot starts a couple of months before the original story, so Allen hasn't arrived at the Order yet.

Okay, to everyone that has read this; thank you, I hope you enjoyed it and feel the urge to review. I will try to update soon^^

If you think it sucked, feel free to say that, but in a nice sugar coated way. No one likes meanies!!

Hugs and love and kisses (and to some a good spanking)


	2. Unus sed Leo

Hi!

Ok, so I did some thinking, and I need some order in this fic, so from now on, thoughts, dreams, flash backs and such will be in _italics,_ just so you know

Thanks for the review I got also, it's officially my first **happyhappy**

**Disclaimer:** I obviously do not own -man; if I did the category wouldn't be "fantasy/Drama" but rather "hardcore yaoi". I only own Iulia and a really cool poster of Donald Duck when he is angry.

**Warning: **Well same as usual, just a bit of language so far

Now, On to the show!

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_**Previously on "**__**Omnia vincit amor et nos cedamus amori"**__**: **_

"_Do you think she'__s speaking the truth?" asked Lenalee suddenly, looking at her brother. _

"_I don't know, let's have her e__xamined by the Gate keeper to see if she's okay, then we can let her in and see for ourselves. Lenalee, go down and get ready to greet her, or kick her down the edge of the muntain if she's an akuma!" answered Komui while still watching girl who was asking to enter Black Order Headquarters._

**Chapter #2: **_**Unus sed Leo**_

_Outside of the tower..._

"X-RAY EXAMINATION,DETERMINING WHETHER SUBJECT IS AKUMA OR HUMAN!" came a sudden shout from the... Gate.

"The face-gate can talk?!" Iulia exclaimed. _How lovely, he seems to have the privilege of being my first friend here, oh the joy._

Her inner self screamed in the back of her mind at her to get away from the talking oversized door, but her curiosity of what would come next got the upper hand. Besides, a door wasn't going to make her give up her precious dignity and run away in fear like a little girl. As always she overlooked the fact that she actually WAS a little girl, she hadn't grown an inch since she was sixteen. And that was two years ago for Christ's sake!

After the mysterious door had scrutinized her entire body, it became quiet for a couple of seconds. Then in the same place as the eyes were, there now were pictures of a cute Chinese girl with pigtails. Out of the mouth confetti spurted out. Well, it was actually just a million tiny pictures of the same Chinese girl.

"SHE'S OK!" shouted the Face-gate. Gate-face. Whatever.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the tower Lenalee had now gotten thumbs up to go out and get the girl, since she at least wasn't an akuma, it could be assumed safe to let her in. She marched up to the gate and it slowly started to open up.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

_Does that mean they__'ll let me in?!_ Iulia was actually getting a bit excited about it all. The first thing she was going to ask was who that girl was. _Seriously, if she gets to be turned into confetti she ought to be really cool. _

_Or just stalked by some psycho. _(closer to the truth) _Or maybe, she put the pictures there herself... maybe she was just really popular... __Or_ _maybe_...

"Ehm, hello there. My name is Lenalee, pleased to meet you!"

Iulia was drawn from her musings by a voice coming from somewhere near her. She snapped her head up and saw that right in front of her was the pigtail-girl, smiling at her.

"Hello, I'm Iulia" she answered. "Are you the supervisor here?" Even though she knew it was a bit straightforward, she was really tired and not in the mood for small talking with confetti-girl.

"No I'm not, but my brother is!" Lenalee said with a small laugh. "I'll take you to him." She continued.

"Yes, that would be great." With that, they walked inside the tower and towards Iulias new future.

**[Iulia POV]**

Finally, I was at the Black Order. Ever since I lost my family and my innocence was all I had left, I've been searching for this place in hope of finding a home.

Or at least food and shelter, living alone and barely being an adult isn't the easiest of lifestyles.

And this Lenalee seems nice, she gabbles a bit, but I feel really welcomed... I think I'm going to like her, even though she mysteriously turns into confetti in the dark nights, under a full moon...

"Hahah..." I barely noticed myself chuckling audibly at my half bad sense of humor, but my campanion did, and she turned to look at me.

"What's so funny?" she asked with a slight raise of her eyebrows and a look of confusement.

"No, I was just wondering why the gate was spurting confetti-pictures of you when I was... _approved _of getting inside." I simply answered and turned to look at her face, hoping for an answer.

First she just looked like I said something really weird, because she didn't seem to understand at all what I meant, but then she got a more... _dark_ look in her eyes.

"Nii-san..." she muttered... Just as quickly as she got the dark (and actually quite scary) look she smiled again, though this time a bit forced, and said "It was probably some joke my brother did, haha...ha... Oh we're at his office now! I have to go and run some errands for the Science Department, but I'll see you later, okay?" And she ran off the same direction we came from.

Lenalee hurried down the hallway and I found myself standing in front of a wooden door. I raised my hand and knocked, still a bit nervous about who to meet at the other side.

Well, time to meet the brother.

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[**Normal POV]**

"Enter!" called Komui from his desk, where he was sitting, trying to look as busy as possible. Next to him was Reever, who had taken on himself the task of keeping the Supervisor awake until this new exorcist arrived.

It was a dangerous business, but someone has got to do it.

Iulia entered the office and with surprisingly long steps, she walked up to the two men."You must be the Supervisor, right?" she said while staring straight into the blonde man's eyes. He looked like the most serious and reasonable of the two. "I'm Iulia, and I'm an exorcist, nice to meet you. I was hoping that I could stay here and..." _what exactly do I want to do here? I was just really sick of travelling around... _she decided to just be quiet and wait for the others to speak

"Well first of all, I'm not the supervisor, He is" Reever said while pointing at Komui who started waving frantically.

"Nice to meet you Iulia! I'm Komui Lee, Supervisor but most importantly the brother of the wonderful and charming and..."

"Okay we get it!" shouted Reever while pinching his nose. "And secondly, of course you can stay here, but we need to ask you some questions and have your innocence checked up first, okay?"

"Yeah, sure. Can i sit down?" Iulia pointed at the sofa, covered in paper.

"Mm, just throw all the junk on the floor!" Komui said happily "oh, you can make a pile to have your feet on, make yourself comfortable" he continued, in hope of having fewer papers to sign later.

"I'll just... put them in a nice pile her beside me... thanks" Iulia stacked some papers together and slumped down. After all that climbing it was really nice to be able to rest a bit.

"So" Reever started, while grabbing a pen and some sort of document which he scrabbled down a few words on. "My name is Reever Wenham, and I'm the section leader of the Science Department. Can you tell me you name and age?"

"Iulia Andersson, with an I, and I'm 18 years old."

"Okay, Iulia... Where are you from?"

"Sweden."

"Uhuh, and what is your innocence?"

As a reply, Iulia stood up from the sofa and opened her coat to easier have acess to her innocence. From two sheaths, one on her each mid thigh, she picked up a stiletto dagger. She put both on Komui's desk to let them have a better look at them. They were really beautiful weapons with an ornamented black handle and blade, and they looked at least a hundred years old. They were thin and not very long either, only about 8-9 inches or so.

"They extend when I use them" she explained. "I suppose because of the innocence, but I don't really know. Anyway it's easier to carry them like that instead of when they're more than twice as long."

"Oh my" Komui now spoke up for the first time in a while. "Could you please activate it?"

"Absolutely" Iulia loved this part, being able to show her strength was important to her, especially since everyone thought she was a weak little girl. Being short was Hell sometimes. With a smirk she picked up the stilettos and closed her eyes. _Innocence, activate!_

The stilettos started to glow a faint green and grew to their full extent, almost 20 inches long. Reever and Komui turned to look at one another and after a few seconds of silent communication, they started to smile.

"Definitely Innocence, Komui."

"Let's go to Hevlaska"

"Uhuh"

"And then I can run a few tests. I have this really great new experiment that I need to test on someone, and..."

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Ugh, now I'm sick of this chapter, it kept on messing with me. I'm not completely satisfied but it'll have to do, and at least it's a bit longer than the last. This chapter is called _Unus sed Leo_, which means _"One but a Lion"._ It doesn't really have anything to do with the story, but it's still a good quote. I use all my spare time looking for suitable quotes in my old Latin papers from gymnasium, under all the dirt and dust.

And I really feel like an ass for making Komui seem like an idiot, but he's so easy to make fun of... I love him though, he's my favorite character ^^

For those who don't know, a stiletto is a small, straight dagger which is used for stabbing, but not cutting since it often do not have sharpened edges. For the sake of actually being able to kill akuma, I made Iulia's bigger than real ones.

Anyway, stay tuned for next episode!


	3. Hinc Illae Lacrimae

_Good morning! Here is a new little chapter, or I would say it's an "in between chapter", not a real one. _

_But I wrote this in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep and I seriously liked it, so enjoy!_

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_**Chapter #3: Hinc Illae Lacrimae**_

_Field_

_A field of… is it grain? _

_Sky, blue sky_

_Forest_

_Where am I? Russia, Finland? No, not quite…_

_Cottage_

_A horse... my horse_

_A man... with such a blurry face... Father?_

_A woman... I can't see her, she's too far away. _

_Mother?_

_**Home**_

_Yes,__ home_

_A boy, younger than me. A boy with golden locks and clear green eyes. _

_My brother. My sweet little brother with tiny freckles on his nose. _

_He's happy, I can see he's lauging._

_The laughter stopped._

_Akuma_

_Scream_

_Fire_

_Ashes_

_Stab, kill, burn, run_

_Run_

_Keep running_

"NO!" Iulia woke up on the floor of her room in the middle of the night, tangled in her bedsheets. Sweat was pouring down her face and her back and made the air around her unpleasantly damp.

A dream.

No, actually a memory.

Her family being killed by akuma when she was twelve. It was probably more than a year since she had dreamt of them and of the day she learned she was a puppet for God, able to tame innocence. That she was what she later would know was an "exorcist". The day the akuma attacked her village was the first time she picked up the daggers. But it just felt so _right_.

Seeing her family, her brother, her mother, her father who taught her to fight even though she was a little girl – _dead_. She knew she had to kill those foul creatures floating in the air.

It was her purpose. It was her _fate_.

But why didn't she feel happy, if that was what she was supposed to do? Why wasn't it enough?! She came to the order simply to get a shelter, but only so she could easier go out and hunt akuma without having to worry about small things; food, money, clothes. Hell, she could even be nice to the others if they seemed useful.

_"Because that's the way I do things__. Friends and trust, now __**that**__ I don't do." _

Yet, yesterday was really fun.

Meeting pigtail-girl.

Meeting the mad Supervisor who loved his sister so much it made your heart ache, but you still laughed for some reason. Because it felt like it was right, like it was supposed to be like that.

Going to see Hevlaska who spoke of the future in a way that neither said good nor bad. It just were. _She_ just were.

Meeting the colourful chef who made _Agnolotti_ that tastes almost like her mother's. Her sweet, beautiful Italian mother who gave her her name.

Eating said dinner with pigtail-girl, who now upgraded to actually be called Lenalee._ Lenalee_, it sounded nice, and it tasted sweet on your tongue.

Just walking around in a place where everyone was striving to the same goal as yourself, although for different reasons.

Getting a room of your own. Which reminded her, she was supposed to be resting.

The day before held an awful lot of _meeting_ and _talking_. Which meant people. She hadn't had people around her for a long time, and she never let them get too close.

What was the point?

She was always travelling to find akuma, and even if she had someone close to her, they'd die soon enough. If exorcists were able to die, it meant that others, especially near innocence, dropped like goddamn flies.

They always die and then you're alone again anyway.

Stupid people.

Still, she could't think about all the people she met yesterday without having her heart skipping a beat out of sheer happiness. She even smiled a bit. Maybe it could be different now. Those who were here knew what they were doing; they could take care of themselves.

And she could protect them.

She _had_ to.

Maybe it was safe to befriend someone after all.

And maybe...

No.

Not _this_ again.

Why did _that_ question always pop up at times like these?

Stop it right there you evil thought!

Here but no further, hey! I said STOP!

...

Too late.

**The** question was floating around is her head with a big neon sign, begging for attention.

"_**If it was okay to have friends, wouldn't it be okay to also... love? Like really love?"**_

Iulia never understood why that question was always stalking her. Everywhere she went, it would wait around the corner, sneak around in the bushes or _inside her mind_. It was like it was mocking her, which meant that she was mocking herself. That could make you feel like a lunatic pretty fast.

She wanted to firmly say that, "No thank you, it was_ not_ okay" but that was hard. Of course she wanted to love; otherwise she wouldn't even be a real human.

But still it was dangerous to love. If you really loved, you could risk ending up with everything or nothing.

In her books, a daily game of Russian roulette was much safer.

She decided as always, to answer some other time. Because tomorrow would be a busy day, she needed to sleep. First she was going to ask Lenalee if she could help her bring coffee to the Science Deparment and then say hello to them.

No wait, the stalker-question wanted attention again.

Stop thinking about it! Go away! Wrong number!

Oh, good. It's gone.

Iulia fell asleep, still on the floor, but with her lips formed into a small smile.

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Third chapter up!

I know there isn't really any plot yet, but its on its way, and the in the next couple of chapters its going to start **excited excited**

And as always; a little title explanation for all of you who don't have the time to look it up on google.

_Hinc Illae Lacrimae_ means something like _"hence these tears"_ and refers to the cause of something. I thought it went nice to have that in a background-chapter actually.


	4. Melius Frangi Quam Flecti

_**Chapter #4: **__**Melius Frangi Quam Flecti**_

The sun was shining. Birds were chirping. Overall it was a wonderful start of a day at the Black Order.

"Nooo... not morning..." Iulia groaned. Her back was really stiff and the sheets were wrapped around her like a cocoon. "What the... Oh well, might as well get up since I'm awake anyway."

Iulia stood up from her place beside the bed while her back made some popping noises, protesting at being treated so roughly. She looked around the room, and it seemed different now in the daylight, than it did yesterday evening. Now it felt much warmer and inviting. She noticed a pile of clothes lying on her desk, that she was pretty sure weren't there yesterday either. Iulia walked up to it and saw a note lying on top of it. She picked it up and read;

"_Iulia_

_I'm sorry for just walking__ in in the middle of night, but I didn't want to wake you up- you look so cute when you sleep! Anyway, here is your new uniform, it should fit, otherwise go to Johnny and he'll fix it for you._

_See you in a __couple of weeks; I have to leave for a mission right now..._

_Hugs from __Lenalee"_

"I do not look _cute_, thank you very much... _Ugh_" being called cute wasn't exactly Iulias favorite; it made her feel like a kid. "Now let's see what this looks like on me..." she said while carefully picking the clothes up.

After much struggle with a million buttons and straps Iulia was able to get her new uniform had made black tight trousers that looked somewhat like her old ones, only these were made out of a thinner, better fabric and had real leather sheaths for her daggers. The boots were black too, and ended right under her knees. The shirt sheput on was one of her own, her favourite purple halterneck top. But the coat was the best part; it was a black trench coat that met her boots by the knees. On the shoulders and down to her elbows where the sleeves ended, there were white and silver details and on the front, the silver rose crest. She liked the way it made her look a bit older and how it made her curves come out with the way it hugged her waist perfectly. With new confidence, Iulia went out to find her way to the cafeteria, which lied... somewhere.

_Where is it?!_

_Why does this place have to be so huge?! _

_I'm hungry!_

_I need Coffee! _

_NOW!_

The frustration from not finding the cafeteria grew minute by minute, especially since the hallway was empty from people to ask for directions. Lost in her own thoughts about starvation and no coffee before she died a slow horrible death, Iulia rounded a corner, not hearing someone approaching from the other way.

_**CRASH__!**_

"Ow, who the hell runs around in the middle of the corridor?!" Iulia shouted, grabbing her throbbing head with her right hand.

"You do... ouch, my head hurts..." came a masculine voice from next to Iulia. Taking her hand down, she spotted a redhaired boy, the same age as her, sitting on the floor and gripping his forehead.

"Oh I'm so sorry! Are you hurt?" She rushed to the boy's side, kneeled down and started peeling his hands away from his head. "Let me have a look" she said in a stern, mother like voice. He did as he was told, and at the same time looked up to see who the girl was. Immediately the slighty pained look was replaced with sparkly heart shaped eyes and the biggest grin Iulia had ever seen.

"Strike!" He suddenly shouted. He kneeled in front of Iulia and grabbed both of her hands in his.

"Do you want to go and have a nice, splendid, lovely, romantic, absolutely _fantastic_ breakfast with the _awesome_ me?! Then we can go out in the rose garden for a moonlight walk, and then" – he started to wiggle his eyebrows- "who knows what'll happen later?"

"First of all, you don't have a rose garden, and there won't be moonlight in like, fifteen hours. You know, it being morning now and all. And secondly, who the hell are you?"

"Oh, I'm Lavi the Bookman in training, at your service madam." Iulia didn't really know what to think of the boy. _Lavi_. She had never heard that name, it sounded like it came from the Middle East (though he didn't look like he was from there...).

"Okay, nice to meet you. I'm Iulia, the new exorcist. I would shake your hand, but I'm afraid you've already kidnapped both of mine." She nodded her head towards them. Lavi looked down and smiled sheepishly at the sight of their hands, clasped together, but didn't let go.

"Yeah I know. They're very warm." Was all he said. "And besides, if we're going on a date, I think I'm entitled to hold your hands." he continued, flashing a flirtatious smile at her.

_Since when am I going on a date with him__!? _Iulia started to get freaked out now. He seemed nice, but this was, well... just overkill. _But maybe he knows the way to the cafeteria! That meant food! _

"But we're not going to go on a date." She finally said. "But I might eat a platonic breakfast with you, if you show me the way to the cafeteria." The redhead seemed to ponder about it for a moment.

"Okay, let's go!" he said and got up from the floor dragging Iulia with him. Well she didn't have to worry about getting lost anymore.

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Iulia didn't notice the time fly by as she sat with Lavi in the cafeteria. After he had dropped the whole date-thing he was nice. Besides, he seemed to be one of those who flirted with everybody he met, so it was just fun to sit and laugh with him. He told her a lot of interesting things, about him and Bookman (but that ended when a panda came out of nowhere and kicked him in the head) and then about the other exorcists. There didn't seem to be too many of them, but from what Lavi had told her, they were nice people. Especially someone named "Yu-chan" was apparently _"so funny it was worth every broken nose he ever gave me"_. He seemed charming.

"But what did you do before you came here then, Iulia?" Lavi asked while looking up from his plate of toast. "I suppose you travelled with a General for a while?"

"Nope. I travelled around on my own."

"But how did you know about the Order?"

"Well..." Iulia always tried to avoid the subject on why she in fact did know about the Order. It just brought back painful memories of alcohol, debts and whores. _Cross._

"Ok, I did travel with a General for a while" she said "about a year ago I went to North America, where I met General Cross Marian. He offered me to be his apprentice (_among other offers he made_) and to go with him and this kid, to India. I left after a couple of months though. He always tried to sell me to brothels, that bastard..." she muttered the last part to herself; after all, maybe this kid was in the "Cross-fanclub-for-idiotic-women-and-guys-hot-enough" or something. Though she did feel a bit bad for leaving poor Allen all alone with Cross, he was such a cute kid.

"And then you went here."

"Yes, but you took forever to find, and it didn't help that Cross never told me where this place lied either! He just said "don't go there, they'll just give you a headache" like _he_ didn't make my head hurt, and then told me to go get him a scotch."

"Harsh."

The cafeteria was empty by now, but suddenly a movement at the doors caught Iulias attention. In walked a boy, around her age or maybe a bit older, with long black hair tied into a ponytail. He wore an exorcist coat, and with long strides he walked up to the counter to order his meal. From what Iulia could tell, he was Japanese. She'd been in Japan, once, but she never saw someone as stunning and handsome as him while there. Lavi must have noticed her staring intently, beause he smirked and then leaned over the table and whispered; "And that would be Yu-chan. Do you want me to go get him?"

"_That'__s nose-breaker guy?" _she thought, while blushing at being caught staring like that. Clearing her throat and leaning back, she tried to cover her blush. "If you want to, I should atleast say hello to him." She said while glancing at Lavi with a bored expression, trying to look as indifferent as possible.

"Or even better" He said with a mischievous grin "why don't you go over and introduce yourself?" with that, he pulled her out of her seat and pushed Iulia towards where the boy was seated a few tables away.

S_tupid Lavi, _she thought while clumsily stumbling forward. She managed to save herself from falling face-first on the floor, but also managed to get the attention of the handsome young manwho now looked at her like she was an alien.

**[Iulia POV]**

I walked up to him and smiled while I stretched out my hand.

"Hello, I'm Iulia. Pleased to meet you" he looked at my face with disinterest and then turned back to continue eating.

"Kanda." He said, still not making any effort to shake my hand. _Okay, that wasn't rude at all_.

"Ehm, would you like to come sit with us? We have a lot of space at our table." _Maybe he's just really shy?_

"No." I wasn't expecting him to be so hostile, but before I could retort with anything he spoke again; "I don't want to sit with a stupid rabbit and some annoying little kid."

_Rabbit__?_

_But __wait, what was the last part- annoying kid? _

_Me?_

_**I**__ was the annoying __kid? Okay that's it, screw the making friends-bullshit..._

"Ok, suit yourself. Maybe I'll see you later!" I flashed him my sweetest and most innocent smile before walking up to Jerry, to have a little chat about waterliving animals.

**[Lavi POV]**

_Wow, __I have never seen Yu-chan so surprised since, well ever. _

_I mean, people usually gets pretty pissed at his attitude, but this is the first time I've actually seen someone go and order a bowl raw fish just to pour it over his head. _

_And it was full of all the fishy-fish juice! It's like, dripping from his hair and... Geez, this will be a day to remember. Hmm, wonder when he'll start to get all angry and stuff. _

_Wait!__ Now he's getting up... _

_He's d__rawing Mugen... Yaddayadda, come on! Do something exciting! Oh look! He's going for her..._

_And she isn't running... Interesting..._

_Cool, __fight, fight, fight! _

_Wait, fighting is not good!. I have to go get someone._

Running from the cafeteria, lavi could faintly hear the screams from Jerry when he saw how the whole cafeteria got turned into splinters and mushy... mush.

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When Lavi came back with Komui right behind him, carrying a big straw and some darts, he was greeted with the sight of Kanda chasing Iulia and her throwing plates at him to avoid being cut into pieces by the angry Samurai.

"Komui, Quick!" the Scientist took the straw, put the darts (that apparently contained sedatives) and blew one at each exorcist who both slumped down on the floor.

"Phew, that was a close one!" he then sighed and sat down on one of the chairs that was still whole. "Lavi, carry them to my office." Komui got up and quickly walked out of the cafeteria.

"Huh? By myself?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Iulia woke up on the sofa in Komui's office, and felt strangely warm. Like she had a teddy bear to cuddle with, and she hugged whatever it was tightly, not wanting to open her eyes.

_Mmm... warm... soft and snuggly... _

"Let go of my arm you idiot."

_Talking? Naah, just my imagination... Cuddlecuddle...__ Cuuu-u-uddle...._

"LET GO I SAID! ARE YOU DEAF!?"

"Waah!" suddenly she wasn't on the sofa anymore, but on the floor. On the sofa though, was Kanda, and he didn't look too happy. More like he'd been drowned in fish sauce, maimed with plates and sedated with something that was actually meant for hippos. Oh wait, he _**had**_ been drowned in fish sauce, assaulted by plates and sedated!

"Oh good, you're both awake." A serious and cold voice was piercing through the air. "Now I'd like you to listen closely to what I have to say." Komui's tone was a new one, very stern and got the attention of both Iulia and Kanda. "I have to say that I'm surprised that you could get on the wrong foot with eachother in less than three minutes, but we can't have that. The repairs on all the things you've damaged is going to cost a tremendous amount of precious money and to have our exorcists not getting along, well that's just not good enough. So, therefore I have decided that you two are to go on a mission together, to_ bond_ and be friends! Perfect, isn't it?"

"What?! You expect _me_ to go on a mission with him? He's the most impolite and unfriendly violnt bastard I've ever met!"

"She's just a fucking brat! I can't go on a mission with her, she'll either be in the way or she'll throw things at people's heads! Have you checked her for rabies, because I not entirely sure that..."

"Oh do shut up! You're the one who started it! And at least I'm not running around with this freakign sword. Are you trying to compensate for something _else_ of a bit _smaller_ size, or just..."

"THAT'S IT! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

"I'd like to see you try, or aren't you man enough?! Oh I guess you're not, since you must have such a SMALL PE..."

"Will the both of you just SHUT UP!" Apparently Komui was fed up with their bickering, and decided to stop it before it got out of hand. Believe it or not, but it worked. An angry Komui was really scary...

"You're both going to Jaffa in five hours, go and pack. The mission folders will be sent to your quarters later. Now Leave." He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "And don't forget to have fun while you're out! I heard it's a wonderful place for hiking!" he then pushed Iulia and Kanda out of the door and slammed it shut. Turning towards Iulia, Kanda glared at her.

"Rabid wench."

"Hermaphrodite."

"Don't be late or I'll leave without you."

"Please don't show up at all."

And they walked away in different directions, neither of them was looking forward to this mission, and neither was going to budge and say that they were sorry.

And now we have introduced them to each other! If you hoped for love at first sight, well, shit happens. Kanda is moch more fit for hate at first sight. And second and third sight.

As always read and review, and make me so happy that I cry (I'm serious, I'm such a softy)

Not to forget, for all the non-googlers: "Melius frangi quam flecti" means "Better to break than bend" and it means that you'd rather die for what you believe than to give in to someone else. I think the last part of the chapter pretty much sums it up^^

**O****ooh!! Important note!!!** I don't mean to be prejudiced against hermaphrodites, but I just assume that most guys in the late 19th century wouldn't appreciate being called that. And that's all there is to it, and hope no one took offence.


	5. Banni Nuptiarum

_**Chapter # 5:**__**Banni Nuptiarum**_

The train compartment was huge. And it had a large window that was open. Despite that, the stench made breathing almost unbearable, and when they boarded the train the conductor had given her companion more than one strange look. But Iulia didn't feel guilty over indirectly being the one who caused it. It wasn't like she was the one who disturbed everyone else by smelling fish.

So no guilt here whatsoever.

Nope, none at all.

Oh what the hell, her concience was about to give her the third kick in the shin for today. She was still surprised that she did something so mean, but come on! Just looking at Kanda's face made her want to play football with some of his more sensitive body parts. He was just so arrogant, and he looked at her like she was _nothing_. Like he was the bloody King of the world or something... but she still felt a bit guilty, so she thought that she should help him out a bit. After all, they still had several weeks before they would reach their destination – a village outside of Jaffa in Palestine, a part of the Ottoman Empire. They were rarely welcome in these places (damn crusaders had to ruin everything and make everyone hate them), and since they were heading to a remote village where no one would probably speak to them (cursed and crazy foreigners as they were), they had to stick together, and if she had to take then first step to everlasting love- well so be it.

"Lemon."

"What?" Kanda looked up at Iulia from the opposite seat in their first class compartment. She hadn't said a word in the two hours that they had been sitting there, but then again, neither had he.

"You should use lemon to get the smell away."

"And you shouldn't throw fish at people, idiot."

"Okay, maybe it was a bit much, but you deserved it. If you ever want to have friends you can't treat people like shit you know."

"I don't need friends, and certainly not morons like you. You'll just die in a couple of weeks anyway, and don't think that I'll care."

Iulia sighed. What was the point in trying to befriend people when they acted like this? But still, she had to try. If she was stuck in the desert with this Kanda-guy they had to work together.

"You know, Jaffa is famous for its citrus fruits." And then she leaned back and looked out the window. By now they were in the french countryside, and it looked absolutely beautiful in the twilight. Hmm, lemons... a lemon would be nice...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Even though it was only past just noon the port of Jaffa was full of people, and they all spoke different languages and had different appearances. Most of them seemed to be merchants or sea men, some with beautiful clothing made of expensive silk, but a lot of them were beggars who pulled at people's sleeves, asking for money or food. So it felt a bit weird that the only ones who didn't really fit in were Iulia and Kanda. People saw their coats and immediately they tensed. Was it always like this?But now _where_ was the finder? Neither Iulia nor Kanda spoke a word of Arabic (and one of them hardly seemed to speak English or any other language for that matter, but who knows? Maybe Kanda knew every language AND the answer to the meaning of life and just didn't want to show off? Or maybe he was just that anti social.)

"Marhaba! Hello!" the two exorcists immeditely turned around at the familiar English word of greeting, and saw a fairly short man wearing white clothing, running towards them. "Are you from the Order?" he asked as soon as he reached them, a little out of breath. He had a heavy Arabic accent and a surprisingly deep voice, even though he was looked quite young, probably not more than 25 or so.

"Yes." Kanda spoke up before Iulia had a chance to. "Can you take us to the village where the innocence might be?"

"Of course, it's about ten miles south, so we'll have to go now if we want to be there before nightfall." By now Kanda had already started walking, and the rest of the party had to try their best to keep up.

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If Jaffa was the embodiment of crowded, this village had to be the complete opposite of it. Exactly 27 people and 12 goats lived here, and the goats seemed like they were those who were most likely to engage in some small chat. Fortunately, the finder was really nice and loved to talk. And talk and talk. Apparently his name was Shakil (which he told Iulia with a wink meant "handsome" in his language and he then slung an arm over her shoulders) and he was born here in Palestine. He usually lived here too, escorting exorcists through this area but was going to follow them back to Headquarters after their mission, to see a friend of his. They had been allowed to stay at Shakil's grandmother's house that lied in the outskirts of the village. When they came to it, an old lady met them by the gates and immediately she looked up and down on you and Kanda and then said something to Shakil that neither of them understood. Both the man and the old woman turned to look at the exorcists and Shakil's grandmother frowned and said something again, now in a harsh tone, and she went inside.

"Is there a problem?" asked Iulia, sending a worried look towards their finder. "She didn't look too happy to see us."

"Well, my grandmother is a bit oldfashioned, and she only has one spare room for you to share and she thought that there was going to be two guys-"

"Wait, are you saying what I think what you're saying?"

"Eh, probably?" he sent them both an apologetic look. "She said she didn't want "no unmarried foreign youngsters without any sense and morals whatsoever to-""

"Okay! Okay! I think we get the picture. But you can't be serious, where are we going to stay?"

"**You** could always live in the field with the goats, I'm sure you'll get along just-"

"And steal your place at the family reunion? Now that wouldn't be fair. But seriously Kanda, you're not exactly helping!"

"Oi!" Kanda turned to look at the finder. "Is there anywhere else we can stay?"

"Well no, no one else would take us in, there are no hotels and we don't have any tents or supplies to stay in the woods. In that case I have to go back in to town to-"

"Then do that."

Shakil left to go get a horse, so he could go buy the things they needed and be back before the night had gone too far. Meanwhile, Kanda and Iulia decided to search the village for any signs of Innocence.

"Ok, I think we should go talk to the locals, maybe someone can understand and help us?" Iulia had to turn her head up and sidewards to see Kanda's face while walking beside him on the narrow road that served as the main street. Here lied most of the houses and cottages, and some people had lined up market stalls shere they sold vegetables and such things. All in all, almost everyone except the old lady they met earlier were accounted for. Suddenly though, Iulia felt someone put a hand on her shoulder. She quickly spun around and saw a tiny old lady, with grey hair pulled up in a bun and a wide smile looking up at her.

Well now she was here too.

"Marhaba!" Even though the old woman obviously didn't want them living in her home, she seemed really happy and excited now (waving and all) and she started to speak to Iulia. About what, she had no clue, but she decided to play along and use the "smile and nod"-tactic, and when she was pulled into a house she also grabbed Kanda's sleeve and pulled him with her.

"Let go of me, dammit!" he growled at the girl who just glared back and leaned up towards his face "Just shut up and play along. I have no idea of what she wants, but try to make her happyhappy and all will be_ fantastic_" she hissed at him, making him straighten and, if not smile, at least stop looking so pissed off. Good, he has learned the art of _listening_.

And she really believed that it was going to be great, but hey, you can't always be right. Neither of them had noticed that the old woman looked at the rest of the people in the street and smiled more mischievously than before, and that they in turn nodded knowingly and then sneaked after her.

The building they were dragged into consisted of one large room that was ornated with flowers and pictures on the walls. Several small windows could be seen higher up, and it had a musty yet cool feeling to it. The old lady (whose name they thought was either Alina or Dua, but they weren't entirely sure, so she had to stick to being "old lady") led them up to the back of the room, and up to some sort of shrine, or altar. There stood an old man with long grey beard, who immediately as he saw them, started to chant some sentences and he motioned for them to stand in front of him.

"What the hell is he doing?" Kanda said in a low voice, obsiously trying _really_ hard not to scowl.

"Don't know, don't want to know but-"

The man with the long beard cleared his throat and slowly said a few words and looked expectantly at the two of them, and then repeated the words again.

"What does he want?" Iulia asked looking up at Kanda, while looking at all the people now standing around her. _(When did they get here?)._ They too looked like they were waiting for something, slowly nodding their heads and raising their eye brows.

"Repeat what he said?" for once Iulia thought Kanda was onto something, and she tried to hesitantly pronounce the words she just heard. It was obviously a success, since the old man smiled and then turned to Kanda with the same look, motioning for him to also speak. Sighing, started the same process.

"NO! Wait!" at the very last words, the doors burst open and in rushed Shakil, looking very upset and very, very terrified.

"What on earth are you doing?"

Neither Iulia nor Kanda answered at first, since well, they didn't really know what they were doing.

"Ask her, it was her idea."

"I just wanted to cooperate with them and be friendly! Just because you don't even understand the meaning of the word doesn't mean that everyone else has to be an ass. And don't blame all on me I-"

"Stop nagging about your friendly shit and grow up! You're so fucking naïve I just want to..."

"Ehm guys..." Shakil looked at the floor and started scratching his head, barely concealing a grin, failing royally as he started to chuckle. "They didn't tell you what this was, what kind of ceremony you were going to go through?" He was now lying on the floor, clutching his stomach and gasping for breath etween his fits of laughter.

"Well no..." Iulia started to have second thoughts about this, maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Let's just say that my grandmother will now happily have you stay in her home."

"But didn't she say some shit about us not being... and that she didn't want any..."

"Well congratulations kids, I now pronounce you husband and wife."

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Go villges and old ladies!!

I was listening to fishbone while doing this, so it might be a little weird... Fishbone isn't good for your mental health...

This isn't my best chapter, but I'm having my brain invaded by a huge desert right now...

Anyway; (as usual) the title means "the banns of matrimony" and refers to the weeks before a wedding, where you're supposed to come up with reasons NOT to marry.)

Hope you read and review and make me shed even more tears of joy (I may not always reply, but I read the reviews^^)


	6. Homo Homini Lupus

**Chapter #6: Homo Homini Lupus**

Morning to you all! Here is another chapter; full of lemons and other feisty fruits!! No, but seriously, like I said last chapter was weird, but I hope someone understood the lemonjoke anyway, because I was like... drunk or something.

Thanks for the review, it gave me some good points on details I had to fix in this chapter^^

I should probably do a disclaimer too since it's been a while: **I do not own -man**, so if anyone thought that, well sorry to disappoint you.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

**[Kanda POV]**

This can't be happening.

_This_ can't be happening.

This can't be fucking _happening_.

What the hell are the odds of accidentically _marrying_ a total idiot, who can't even spell to the word "sense" and who's probably never even thought a second time before dragging everyone else into her mess too?! I shouldn't have ignored the stupid finder just to finish the stupid sentence.

But I just wanted to get out of there, it was bloody _suffocating_.

The sun has since long set, we should go look for the Innocence one last time for today. The folder said that fifteen people have disappeared from the village the last three months, and only clothes and dust were left... This means that it was akuma, but otherwise thare was no connection. Although it means that something draws the akuma here and it sure isn't because of overpopulation...

Well unless you mean of those goddamn lemons.

But come on! She just had to go and "befriend the locals". Seriously what's the point in that? It's not like they'd understand us anyway, and we could have just waited for the finder to come back... Attaching herself to people like that, she'll just get disappointed again and again.

I mean not that I care or anything. It's not like I know her.

How the hell did she manage to survive this long anyway?

Still, it's not like I care! Just curiosity.

And why isn't she saying anything? She usually would have tried to annoy me by now, but she's just sitting there. Not that I'm complaining, but it's just not normal.

Not _her_.

Anyway, where were I....

Oh, look for Innocence.

Right.

*************************

Iulia and Kanda were now occupying a small room in the back of Shakil's grandmother's house, with two beds and a closet filling most of the space. Right after the ceremony (or "what-shall-never-be-mentioned-again-" as they both liked to call it) they politely (actually with much yelling, kicking and running) declined any celebrations because they had "important things to do so no more of you losers die" (courtesy of Kanda). Iulia was currently sitting on a bed, dwelling on her misfortune while Kanda stood by a window and looked out at a field. He considerably calmed down after having gone ballistic on some furniture in what they learned was the temple and now simply had his brows furrowed and seemed to be in deep thought.

Suddenly he started walking towards the door.

"Oi." he turned to look at Iulia.

"What." She said nothing else to show that she had heard him, just continued sitting on the bed, looking down at her feet.

"Get your coat on we're going out to look for Innocence."

"Whatever."

"No smart remarks today? Che, guess you finally gave up then."

"Sure."

'_Now that's just weird...' _

The odd feeling of uneasiness didn't leave Kanda's mind, and it didn't get any better because Iulia was so quiet. Not that she usually talked much to him, but others weren't safe from being a target for conversation. Now she was just... well not doing anything, and oddly he found it extremely frustrating that she wouldn't even fight back at him when he mocked her even.

************************************

**[****Iulia POV]**

Okay, _this_ time I'm sure that someone up there hates me.

First walking in the desert for hours, then being put up for some arranged _speed_-marriage by an evil old lady. I don't want to seem like some whiny brat, but people are so untrustworthy these days.

I'm just so tired of it all.

Stupid missions.

Stupid supervisors who_ gives_ me stupid missions.

Stupid pretty boy who _is_ on the stupid mission!

The first thing I'm going to do when I get back is to run away, seriously. I was right from the beginning, poeple just isn't my cup of tea and that's it. I did better on my own, and it's not like anyone's going to cover my back when it counts.

Especially not Queen Liquid Nitrogen over there.

I just don't care anymore, everything I do ends up in a mess anyway.

Shit he's _right_, I'm a failure. I can't even get one single mission right.

**************************

Just when Kanda was about to try _"spiking up a conversation"_ by using his standard tactic (involving just the right amount of insults and glares to get you angry and start talking but not go on a psychotic rampage) the attention of both was drawn to a huge explosion, which was followed by several screams. They ran towards the sound as fast as they could, and needless to say, the sight that met them wasn't something you want to see before going to bed.

The temple in the center of the village was razed to the ground, and people were either running away in fear or crushed under the masses of stone and wood. Floating in the air was about twenty level one akuma, seemingly firing at anything they saw, uttering horrifying screeches. the few houses nearby were also severely damaged or completely blown away, leaving a clear agora-like place where no one was safe or could hide.

At first Iulia wanted to run away and never look back. She had never seen this many akuma at the same time, and she froze at the spot. She soon came to her senses though, realizing that she had to to something before they were all dead. Looking for Kanda, she spotted him at the right end of the _swarm _of akuma, literally cutting down most in his way.

"Okay, left it is then." and she ran towards the nearest target.

**

Even though they say that nurturing is one of the things that make life worth living, stabbing akuma does too. Maybe it's sick, but you just get a kick out of it, especially on a bad day. At least Iulia thought so, and she was having a _shitty_ day.

Run, jump, stab, jump to the next.

Very deliberating.

Seemingly getting new energy from her anger and need to brutally hurt something, Iulia started to jump at three of the remaining akuma, her daggers extended fully and her eyes filled with determination.

If Kanda had seen that he would've almost been impressed (not that he'd admit it), but his eyes fell on something completely different. A few yards behind his comrade a fourth akuma was, aiming for her back. He knew that she wouldn't be able to turn around to take it out before the others would attack, so he acted purely out of instinct. He ran and threw himself in front of the akuma and at the same time lashed out at it. Then all he had to do was wait for the inevitable pain of a bullet fired before the creature died.

And damn, even if it didn't kill it still _hurt_.

--

Iulia successfully finished off the akuma and then turned around to look for Kanda and any akuma that might still hide in some alley. She was surprised by the silence that surrounded her, no yellling or anything. She hoped that the people had found shelter, and at least the akuma seemed to be gone for now.

Time for gloating.

"Oi, Kanda" Did you see that?! You're going to have to stop calling me a useless kid now, haha! Kan-"

She stopped her foot mid-air so she wouldn't accidentically step on what was laying in front of her. Right at her feet was a body lying, covered in a blood and bruises, but she could still clearly see that it was Kanda. She kneeled at his side, trying to look for any signs that he had poison in him, and to, well to see if he was even alive.

"Kanda?" she tried. He was laying on his back, with one large gash on his chest several cuts on his face and hands. He wasn't responding to her voice, and he was barely breathing.

"Shit, Kanda. Don't go die on me, Komui is going to think I killed you! Ha...ha... Please Kanda just wake up!"

Emotions filled her heart to the brim and it felt like she was going to die from the pain in her chest. Out of all the things she'd seen, this was the worst: the knowledge that she should have been there to stop it. Tears filled her eyes. It didn't matter that he was a mean bastard, he was still her comrade and now he was deseerting her! He was leaving her, in the middle of nowhere, and she'd be all alone again. She looked up to see if anyone would help her, but all she saw was smoke, fire and empty streets. Anger then took over the sadness, anger that she had failed to get them both out of the figh alive. Anger that he didn't trust her enough to call for help.

She pounded her fists against the ground, the sobbing never ceasing.

"Kanda! You idiot! How the hell could you let some lowly demon shoot you right in front of you like that?! Why didn't you call for help if you needed it?! Did you think I was such a failure that you didn't even..."

All her newfound confidence seemed to drain away from her.

"Mmph... shut...up"

A lowl mumbling sound was heard and Iulia's heart skipped a beat.

"What? Kanda, you're alive?!"

"Mm... Now stop whining." He opened his eyes a bit to look at her and then tried to move.

"Oh no, stop that or I'll hit you. Lie perfectly still, I'll get help."

"don't... screw up... I don't want... to rescue you... again..." His voice faded at the end and he drifted off into uncousciousness.

"What?"

Suddenly it all made more sense. She didn't understand at first how someone as experienced as Kanda would let himself be shot right from the front like that, unless they...

....

....

"He jumped in front of the bullet?!"

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Hephep!

**Title:** "Man is a wolf towards another" and can refer to the sometimes awful things we do to each other. I can't believe how angsty this turned out to be today, it's really not my style actually.

As always, please read and review, hope you enjoyed it^^


	7. Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat

**And... ACTION!**

**Me**_:_ "psst... Kanda..."

**Kanda:** **_ignore**_

**Me:**_ **goes out, grabs moyashi-impersonating-kit-with-fake eye lashes-and-corset, goes back in, leans on the doorframe, starts with a low and husky voice**_

"Kanda... over here..."

**Kanda:**"Shut up! I'm trying to-"_**turns around, sees moyashi-outfit**_

"...uhh... well what is it?"

**Me:** "Kanda, would you do a disclaimer for me? Pleeeeaseee..."_ **bits lip and then gives extreme moyashi-pout**_

**Kanda: **"I, well, eh you see..."

**Me: **"just answer this honey; **do I own -man**?"

**Kanda: **_(actually has no idea) _"Yes... maybe? Anyway, nice outfit, I was thinking that-"

**Me: **"Wrong answer"

**Kanda: **"Huh Okay, **No**? But how about I go get some _nice wine *cough*sprinkled with absinthe_*_cough* _and we can-"

**Me:**"Right answer, thanks PAL!"_ **skips out, put jogging-suit back on, skips back in**_

So! Like Kanda said, I own nada, and enjoy chapter #7, full of insights on the mind of our favourite bitchy samurai!

...

...

...

...

**Kanda: **"what the fuck just happened?"

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

_**Chapter #7: Fortes Fortuna Adiuvat**_

_*****_

[Kanda POV]

I need a hand.

And waking up hurts. My head is throbbing and my chest feels as if it's on fire and hacked at the same time. Just breathing hurts, a shame that you just can't decide to stop it when you want to.

Damn reflexes and damn oxygencraving lungs.

Well I suppose I should be grateful that I've still got them, since they got fucking thrashed by that ugly akuma. But it's not like I would die anyway. I wonder if I would actually survive without lungs, maybe they'd grow back if I lost them?

And if only the sun wouldn't shine so goddamn bright into my eyes, it's annoying. I can't even get up to fix the curtains in this state.

Can't Miss Annoying actually be present and give people a hand when it's actually wanted for once?

Surviving _sucks_.

**********************

Walking down the remnants of the street, Iulia thought to herself that it was indeed strange, the fact that someone survived from an akuma-attack. She would have to ask about that later, when he woke up. But right now she had to look for the Innocence, and she was starting at the place where the attack was. Besides, when she woke up this morning Shakil had told her that she wouldn't be able to help anyway. That the best was to keep working on the mission and leave the rest to him and his grandmother, whom she recently found out was a healer. which left her here, once again on her way to the temple in hope of finding the Innocence.

The temple was completely razed, and what once was a grand building was now only a pile of bricks, stones and wooden beams covered in what looked suspiciously similar to blood. Not really knowing where to begin, she started to dig at the spot closest to her, removing the stones one by one.

The minutes passed by and soon grew into hours, but still she had no luck in finding any clues.

*********************

[Iulia POV]

It's a hand.

A _bloody_ hand sticking up among the bricks.

God, do I have to touch it?

I do _not_ want to do this. I don't think this is the best thing to tell people when your job is to kill scary demons, but I have a great fear of dead things.

People, animals, inanimate objects, if it's dead then I'm out of here.

To kill- fine, but once it's dead, keep it away.

Aahhh, It's just lying there, clenching and unclenching and-

Wait.

Do dead hands move?

*

The rocks moved slightly and not wanting to waste any time, Iulia removed those covering the undead corpse (or whatever you should call it) as quickly as possible, trying to still do it carefully as to not hurt the person trapped under them. Soon a whole body could be seen, and slowly a man stood up, covered in dust and coughing. He looked a little worse for wear, but Iulia remembered him as the long-bearded man with whom they met earlier.

And who had evilly made her marry that excuse of an idiot, Kanda.

"Sir, are you alright?! Is anything broken?" Iulia remembered that he didn't understand her language, but he seemed to understand what she wanted and made a reassuring gesture by putting his left hand on her shoulder and smiling a bit. Although tired, he seemed to be fine. How that could be was beyond her knowledge, since he was crushed under tons of stone and wood.

"_Zumurrud." _He spoke to her, his tone relieved and quiet.

"I don't understand you, I'm sorry can you-" he interrupted her by saying the word again and this time he took something out from a pocket in his coat. He held the small object like it was very precious and then opened his hand to let Iulia see it. At once, she understood exactly what he was talking about.

Zumurrud.

Smaragd, she would say in her native tongue.

Emerald.

_Innocence__._

In his hand he held a small orb, green and with a faint light surrounding it. The Innocence must have been hidden in the temple, protecting the man trapped inside it.

Hesitantly Iulia reached out towards the orb, but was stopped when the old man grabbed her hand. She looked up at his face and was met by an unyielding gaze. He would not give it to her, not as long as he was alive.

Of course.

She now remembered something that Shakil's grandmother had told her this morning, at breakfast. The people who lived here got very old and stayed healthy if you compared to those who lived elsewhere. No one ever got seriously injured in freak accidents, so her work as a healer was very easy. At the time, she didn't pay any attention to it and just brushed it off as luck.

But they knew all this time where the Innocence was, and they hid it from them, inside the temple. And now _her _comrade was badly injured, which could have been avoided if they had just gotten the Innocence from the beginning!

This man, who was considered as a wise elder here, must have at least known about the powers contained in the small orb. Even if he didn't know it before, but when they arrived he must have realised!

Iulia now had her eyes locked on the ground, clenching her fists and grinding her teeths. She was so angry at them all for keeping this a secret, and she prepared herself to start screaming at the old man. Even if he wouldn't understand what she said, he would understand that she couldn't accept this.

But she couldn't bring herself to when she looked at his expression, eyes now filled with sadness and regret instead of the harsh look he had before.

Yes, he knew about the Innocence, and yes he hid it.

But he was only looking out for his friends and family. He wanted to keep them safe and protected, and to do that he had to use the little thing he referred to as "zumurrud".

She saw that there was no ill intent behind his decisions, so she couldn't bring herself to really be angry with him.

She understood him in a way, and yet he hadn't said a single word. And she almost wanted to pretend that it wasn't really Innocence, that it could stay in the village and protect it's inhabitants.

Because what said that the Order had more right to it than them?

*************

"It's still not fair you know."

"Of course not, but could you just shut up about it? We had to bring the Innocence, or we would be hanged like traitors, and I'm not getting hanged because of your stupid antics."

"You'd just survive anyway Kanda, I'd actually die for real. And I still don't see why you can't tell me about yor healing-thing."

"I can but I don't want to. Because I _don't like you. _You're an annoying idiot, now stop pestering me."

"You should have just lied and said yes when I asked if it was the Innocence we retrieved that saved you. I would obviously have stopped asking then."

"You can still stop, before I cut your hair off."

"You won't, besides it's just hair."

"And what says I won't?" the air surrounding the Japanese male was starting to turn colder by the second, as his level of self control seemed to get lower and lower. Those with some sense of selfpreservation would have retreated long ago, but being cramped inside a train compartment for more than 10 hours obviously mashed your brain. Because right now, Iulias main amusement lied in trying to get Kanda as angry as possible and still survive.

After the Innocence had been retrieved from the not so happy villagers, Iulia and Kanda started the journey home. If it was one thing she had learned, it was that the missions took so long, not because you had to work during months, but because travelling took forever. One week on a boat and now another two by train.

Bleh.

Or as Kanda would have said; "Che", she thought sourly. He wasn't exactly warming up to her, he was rather getting colder. Ever since the akuma attack in Palestine he would be even more hostile than usual, and avoid every question she asked. How the hell was she supposed to work with this guy?!

"Kanda."

"What?!"

"Stop shouting, _darling_, I was just going to ask you something." She turned to him and glared.

"And why should I answer any of your questions?" he was starting to claw at the windowsill out of anger at the offending nickname that she used whenever she wanted to wind him up, which Iulia found oddly satisfactory.

"Because you looooove me so!" She replaced the glare with the sweetest smile she could possible make and then continued with "why else did you save me?" and the final blow was given.

At this the swordsman seemed startled, it was almost as he didn't realize himself that he had done such a thing.

"Because Komui would have nagged at me for not bringing an exorcist home from their first mission. Next time, consider yourself dead if you can't look after yourself." He seemed content himself with that answer, and settled for looking out of the window, ignoring further attempts at war from the other party. Iulia on the other hand wasn't completely happy. For some reason she was a bit disappointed that he didn't say something that indicaated that he wanted her to, well not die, because he would be a tiny bit sad. Just a _tiny_, tiny bit.

But that's what you would want fron anyone, right? Because it wasn't as if she wanted him specifically to like her, but the befriend people-part of her brain made some thoughts a bit screwed up. That was all…

Wellwell, if she couldn't talk to him, she'd have to find someone else that could keep her company. Which reminded her, where was the finder?

********************

_At the other end of the train, in a small closet-like area in the goods wagon, a figure sat huddled up in a corner with a telephone tightly clutched in his hands…_

"Why are you whispering?"

"So the others won't find me and know that I'm talking to you."

"And that is bad bacause…?"

"Oh, Lavi, you are going to love this."

"What did you do?" Even though he tried to sound scolding, Lavi could barely contain his excitement. Shakil was a friend of his since a mission a couple of years back, but they rarely saw each other, with him being in England and the other many miles away. Despite this, he had received a letter from Shakil a few weeks ago, saying that he was coming to visit and at the same time escort the exorcists back. He liked him and his company, probably because they were so alike. With this in mind, Lavi knew that whatever Shakil was about to say, it had to be good.

"You know the two exorcists I'm accompanying right?"

"Yuu-chan and my sweet Iulia?"

"Ehh, Angry Pretty-face and Hot Girl?"

"Yeah. But don't call her that, she's nice."

"Jealous?"

"Nah, already tried and failed. But what did you want? Tellmetellme!"

"Patience mon ami, and let me ask you, how do they treat each other at home?"

"Well they haven't been home together that much… But mostly they try to murder each other."

"Well guess what?"

"WHAT?"

"They're married."

"No seriously, what is it."

"They're _married_."

"WHAT? You're kidding."

"Nooooo, I'm not. I went out for a while, and when I came back they were right in the middle of being all loveydovey and stuff."

"WHAT?"

"Stop screaming _what_ all the time, but okay maybe not loveydovey. More like the villagers set them up to saying the vows and they had absolutely no idea of what they were doing. Hilarious I tell you."

"But are they really married? Like, marriedmarried?"

"That's not a word. And of course they're not… _Mariedmarried_, but they don't seem to notice that."

"This is too good to be true."

"I know! But I have given this some serious thought and-"

"Pffft! The day you give something a serious thought Shakil, I'll start wearing a tutu."

"Haha, very funny, how could I ever miss your company? But anyway, do you want to know something else?"

"You walked in on them-"

"No! Get your head out of the gutter, damnit Lavi!"

"I had to ask."

"Whatever, but did you know that he saved her from being _horrendously_ killed by a _awful_ akuma with it's _terrible_-"

"I get it, cut the drama. But Yuu-chan stepped out of his way to save her?"

"Uhuh, and got injured. _Very_ injured."

"Very injured?"

"Very,_ very_ injured."

"So your serious thought now is…"

"That the beast of beasts"

"And the fair maiden"

"_Really_ want to get it on."

"And you say my head is in the gutter… You mean that they will fall in love and live happily ever after?"

"Whatever makes you happy Lavi."

"So they've stopped killing each other?"

"Not exactly, you see my fellow plotter; they aren't as clever as we, and have yet to realize their hidden affections."

"So we need to give them a discrete little _push_, you mean."

"Exactly. And since this is going to be tough, we should include Lenalee."

"Are you saying this because you like her? Because she's like my sister, so don't try anything funny."

"No, I'm saying this because she's the most evil little plotmaking demon there is."

"Good."

"But you don't happen to know is she's seeing anyone?"

"Nope, her brother wouldn't let that happen."

"That rabid scientist? I think I'll pass, but I should be heading back before they miss me."

"See you soon?"

"Yeah bye."

"Bye."

___________________________________________________________________________

YAAY!! It has been forever since I last updated, and I was starting to worry about forgetting the plot or something…

Anyway, the title means "fortune favors the bold" (literally "strong" I think) and I just like that phrase. A good sentiment so to speak, since I didn't find anything fitting for this specific chapter.

And just so you know, I googled up the Arabic word for emerald, so I can't be sure if it's correct, but I think so^^

As usual, please review and keep on reading!


	8. Timeo Danaos Et Dona Ferentes

Whoosh, I'm not dead or in a coma. Just… out of inspiration, I've got to get me one of them muses… So, apologies to you who have waited for a long time!

Hopefully this chapter won't be too confusing, I know that I jumped right from the train to like, weeks ahead, but this is the third or fourth version of this chapter and everything else I tried just royally sucked, so… hopefully you'll like this anyway, and please review, it makes me so happy!

Anyway, as always I own nothing of -man, only my OC:s.

* * *

_Timeo Danaos Et Dona Ferentes_

_******_

"…**After retrieving the innocence successfully, we headed home the same route we came. The train ride went smoothly and with no akuma or accidents. Furthermore, I do not find it necessary to add any other comments regarding mission 947. Both of the exorcists (Iulia Andersson and Yuu Kanda) have returned safely to the Black Order Headquarters."**

Iulia put down her fountain pen and took a quick look at her report. A small lamp was next to her on her desk, only partially illuminating her room.

As soon as she and Kanda had entered the hall of HQ earlier that day, Komui came running, asking for a full account of their mission. Then Reever stopped by, and Komui by some _unknown reason_ ran away quicker than the wind and unfortunately (for him, that is) ran into a door. That was probably the funniest sight that day, at least if you ask Lavi who had arrived just on time to see it and who couldn't stop laughing until his face turned blue from the lack of oxygen. Iulia hadn't had much time to talk to the bookman apprentice today though, since he had been with Shakil most of the time, apparently talking about old memories and old "conquests" (she didn't dare ask about that one, since it obviously had nothing to do with the conquering of geographical locations). Nor had she spoken to Kanda, since he had stormed off almost as soon as they got back, looking as if he wanted to kill someone.

She had no idea that Lavi and Shakil were friends, but now that she knew, she wasn't all that surprised. They were so similar, it was almost scary. One Lavi on sugar is managable, but two… geez, the next four weeks she was going to spend there would be intense. The Supervisor had given everyone a short vacation (he mentioned that before the door incident) and now Iulia was really happy, because in reality it meant that they hadn't found tracks of Innocence, but _also _none of large akuma hords that needed to be taken cared of immediately.

Some peace and quiet at last!

And time to put her super-mega-über-brilliant plan into action.

The issue was, that on the way home she had tried to ask Kanda a million questions that he refused to answer, both of the important nature _("Eeh, shouldn't you be a dead japs instead of a bitchy one?)_ and the not so important _("Like, are you sleeping with the chef?")_. The last one was just to tick him off, but let's face it- the only person that Kanda acted somewhat civil towards was the man that gave him food. Men were so simpleminded.

Well, there was Lenalee too; Kanda seemed to at least yell a lot less at her. This annoyed Iulia a bit (a lot), because even though she and Kanda weren't at the best of terms, she wanted to be acknowledged by him. She wanted to know that he thought of her as a comrade. Someone to rely on in battle and someone to talk with. She started to get this nagging feeling ever since their mission, the one she always got when she thought of Kanda.

That nagging feeling that always came when she saw him talk to Lenalee and standing there calmly, looking as if he almost, just _almost_ listened to what she said. Talking to pretty Lenalee that got to be turned into confetti because she was so preeeeetty and so chaaaaarming and so goddamn cute. She was too cute to even be angry with about it.

That same nagging feeling that never came when _Lavi_ talked to Lenalee and laughing tried to mock-flirt with her. Noticing her clenched fists and her nails digging into her palms, Iulia took a deep breath and tried to think rationally. This whole thing was bugging her, but she was going to stop being so ridiculous.

Thus, she took a mature and rational decision: to just ignore the feeling and bang her head hard against a brick wall every time she thought of Kanda.

Because this was just some disease or something. That's it! It was probably just the science department playing a few tricks on her.

Yes…

They were just trying to make them friends and save themselves some trouble by making some sort of _drug_ that made her feel these strange things. Because as ifshe would be jealousor something equally prepostorous because she… liked him or anything.

No, it was just pure evil, courtesy of evil scientists.

Well he who laughs last laughs best, they won't get away with it!

She was going to get to the bottom of all the enigmas regarding the angry raven _and _stop this annoying nagging feeling by seeing for herself that he, in fact, was nothing special. The problem was just that he would always avoid her questions (nagging) and politeness (slight warmongering).

Naturally, Iulia had now but one choice since giving up and finding something useful to do was absolutely** not** an option. She rummaged through the drawers of her desk until she found what she was searching for- a folder filled with papers. On the front of the folder, she scribbled down in bold letters: STALKK, and operation Stalk Kanda could now officialy begin.

**

*****************

**********

"Ow, you're sitting on my hand Lenalee!"

"Sorry Lavi, but Shakil is taking up all the space!"

"Are you saying that my ass is big or something?"

"Speaking of asses, Lavi, can you stop _groping_ mine?!"

"Leave Lenalee alone you octopus!"

…

Silence.

"Was that Komui on intercom?" Lavi started to worriedly look around for any signs of an impending painful death.

Lenalee just rolled her eyes with a sigh. "Lavi you're being paranoid, I didn't hear anything. It's just your imagination." Her friend calmed down a bit, but he didn't look completely convinced that he was safe, even though they were well hidden from any prying eyes or ears.

Almost as soon as Shakil and the exorcists had gotten back, Lenalee had dragged him and Lavi to the farthest room, in the farthest corridor, in a part with so many dangerous creatures luring in every corner that no one would ever venture there- the store for Komui's failed experiments.

"You know Lenalee, I have to agree with Lavi. It' cramped here, with lot's of scary machines…Couldn't we just have met in one of your rooms or-"

"No!" Lenalee gave her companions a stern look, without word saying that the discussiong was over. "Lavi told me about the situation as soon as you hung up, and I demand that we take this seriously. And by that I mean that we have to take great care: no one can know, or they might tell Kanda or Iulia and the whole plan might fail because of their stubbornness."

"Yes but-"

"It is our friends happiness that is on the line here" she abruptly stood up, pumping her fist in the air and looking like the spitting image of Jeanne D'Arc "and we have to fight for their right to love and have kids named Lenalee Jr, Leena and Lin!" she was now a bit breathless and looked down at the boys with a fire in her eyes and a wide smile on her lips. Well it was always good to know that someone took this seriously.

"I... ehh…" Shakil turned his head to look at Lenalee.

"Lenalee Jr.?"

Lenalee continued to look at them, searching for the tiniest bit of understanding that; yes, if she was a part of making Kanda and Iulia a couple, then _hell yes_, they should name at least one kid after her.

A minute passed by in silence.

"Let's just start the planning, okay?"

"I couldn't agree more."

"Ooh! Can I start?!" Lavi started to wave his arms, occasionally pointing at himself to accentuate his point.

"Sure." Lenalee smiled warmly at him.

"Fire away."

"We have to search their rooms for evidence, and then interrogate them for a confession." Lavi crossed his arms and leaned back, as if that was a completely obvious thing to say.

"What?"

"That wasn't half as good as I expected it to be." The harsh answer came from none other than Lenalee. Well, like we said, it was always good that someone took it seriously. "And what do you suppose we could get from that?" She too crossed her arms, looking straight into his visible eye, taking up a mental challenge with the bookman in training.

"Because if we're really lucky, we might find… a secret diary with love poems about Kanda and his shiny hair!" Lavi's eyes took on a dreamy look.

"You're sounding as if you've written one yourself." Shakil snickered and nugded Lavi with his elbow.

"I most certainly have not!" Though Lavi sometimes could be a master of schemes and manipulation- as required from a bookman in training- he looked very much like a child caught with the hands in a cookie jar.

"I just… thought his hair looked nice and… oh shut up!" By now Lavi was blushing quite a bit and pouted while looking down at his lap. This would definitely be up for discussion as soon as the mission was complete.

"Okay, okay, I'm just going to be nice and quiet. Anyway, do you have any suggestions Lenalee?"

"Well… not really." She gave an apologetic look at the others and shrugged her shoulders.

"Then I think we should try my idea." Lavi had now recovered from having all his blood rushing up to his head and was trying again to convince the others.

"It couldn't hurt to try I guess. But if we get caught and skewerd by one of them, I'm so blaming you." Lenalee narrowed her eyes at the redhead, though she was far too innocent to get that threatening look she wanted.

"Shakil, are you in?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"That's the spirit!"

**

*************

********

Putting down the bokutō, Kanda sighed. He slowly walked over to the wall of the training room, slid down and closed his eyes, leaning against the cool stones. He'd been training since they'd come back from the mission, which was at least four hours ago. Feeling his stomach starting to protest at being empty for so long, he decided to take a quick shower and then head for the cafeteria. He wasn't feeling too happy when they'd gotten back, which was sort of weird since he'd been spending three weeks just trying to ignore the gaki (his new nickname that Iulia hated like the plague) and at first he was so relieved that he could go and hide in his room that he almost smiled. But just almost. And then that weirdo scientist crashed into a door and he actually did laugh a bit… hopefully nobody noticed.

Then the rabbit came along and started clinging on the gaki like some goddamn liana, and Kanda seemingly without reason got angry and stomped away, heading for the training grounds to work off some of the anger. And to think.

Because believe it or not, he does think- a lot. When other people gabber away he talks to himself in his head (not like a crazy person, at least he thinks so himself) but with normal little monologues. Though recently, there had been a second voice in his head, and he didn't like it one bit. You would probably recognize it; an annoying little voice that sounds like someone you know and that speaks bullshit about someone you hate, in his case the gaki. For example; _"well this isn't so bad, being stuck alone in a train compartment with her…" _or _"naaw she look so cute like that" _(there he started hitting himself on the head, earning some strange looks from his partner). But seriously, this was scary.

Pushing those very alarming thoughts aside, he pushed himself up from the floor and started taking slow strides towards the showers. Suddenly he stopped dead in his tracks, a smirk making its way to his lips.

He had finally cracked the nut, and he was not going insane!

It must have been the scientists. Theymust have _**drugged**_him in order to make him like the gaki… because if not, then how could this weird second voice (that by the way sounded exactly like bakaLavi) make it into his head? Only those inconsistent idiots could have come up with an idea like that. _But why_? What could they possibly gain from making him like Iulia, except from less broken furniture?

Wait, that was actually a perfectly good reason if your name was Komui, Hell, he'd need less to make you a guinea pig. _But how could they get close enough? Did they corrupt Jerry to put something in his food? No, that's not it… wait a minute…_ Kanda's eyes shot open at the realization, it was all so clear. Of course there was only one person that would even try such a suicide mission as to mess with his soba. It was in that moment, that another plan was formed, one involving lots of screaming and lots of pain.

This time, Usagi woud have to jump really fast if didn't want to be Samurai-food.

* * *

Pheew, I feel so proud for even finishing another chapter, even if it's a short one. But I have some ideas for the next one, I'm starting right away! Anyway, the title today means "I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts" and symbolizes all of the scheminess (is that a word?) of the chapter. It's originally from the Illiad, and there they are of course referring to the Trojan Horse.

And also, for those who hasn't looked it up on google yet, more or less a bokutō is a wooden sword used for training martial arts involving a katana (real sword).

Gaki is something like brat/ a really annoying kid.

Until next time, please read and review!!!!!!!!!!


	9. Anglice

And after months and months without an update here is a shooort excuse of a chapter. But since I recently got a little inspiration, I'm in the progress with next chapter too!

As always; read and review, and I own nothing of -man… **cries**

_Anglice_

At eleven PM, most people at the order had already gone to bed, save those on guard duty and of course the always working science department. This particular September evening though, if you really listened, you could hear the hushed voices of people moving through the corridors of the Black Order.

"Lavi, I'm not so sure about this anymore…"

"Don't worry Shakil, nothing bad is going to happen! Iulia's nowhere in sight and Lenalee will be on watch while we very swiftly just look a bit around her room. What could possibly go wrong?" Lavi turned around giving his friend a big smile, still moving forward. The three partners in crime had been making their way towards Iulia's room, going only through the corridors they knew were unguarded. After all, who wouldn't be suspicious if they saw three black clad people sneaking around, pressed againt the walls as if that would _miraculously_ make them invisible?

"But why do we have to look like were going to break into the Louvre and steal the Mona Lisa?" Lenalee whispered from behind Shakil, though she had to admit that she looked pretty awesome in her outfit. They were all dressed in tight black clothes, finished with black scarves tied around their heads. Lavi had even taken off his bright green bandana to honour the occasion.

"I thought that we would look like ninjas, actually." Lavi felt a bit offended that no one saw the awesomeness of the outfit, but kept moving. They had almost reached Iulia's door now, and was hoping that like most people here, Iulia wouldn't have asked for a lock. In a place like this, concerns regarding material belongings weren't exactly your first pirority. Besides, it wasn't like anyone was going to steal anything, since the only thing those working for the order might own would be something out of only sentimental value.

In fact, all would have seemed very ironic to Lavi if he hadn't been too concerned with the "Mission-of-Love" to realize that they were actually going to break into someone's room.

Carefully turning the door knob to not make any sound, Lavi gave a small sigh of relief when the door easily slid open. Part one was now finished. All they had to now, was find the diary with Iulias detailed confession of love for Kanda. Lavi was very sure that every girl had a diary and _of course_ they would write about Kanda and his shiny hair in it. Can we just say that it takes one to know one, and leave it at that?

Plus, if they found it, maybe the others would stop asking him about that slip up he made earlier on the subject…

No one knew this, but when Lavi first came to the order, he had a bit of a crush on his Japanese friend and his shiny hair. The thing was that before he actually met Kanda, he had only seen him from a distance and asssumed that he was a girl. And when they met, that desire to blush around his fellow exorcist just wouldn't go away!

That was when he was sixteen, and he first realized that his preferences weren't limited to girls, and it had been hard on him. It wasn't so much that he couldn't accept the idea of being attracted to other men; it was more of the idea that as a future bookman, he now had twice as many attachments to be careful of.

Lavi and Shakil snuck into Iulia's room and started searching while Lenalee waited outside on watch-duty. At first they didn't find anything of interest (Lenalee had pointed out, that of course someone who just moved in hadn't had time to get any stuff yet) until they looked under the bed, though it wasn't a diary.

It was a folder.

With papers in it.

Paper with _text _on it.

"Bingo!" Said Lavi as he did a little victory-dance.

"What does it say, come on show me!" Shakil tried to stop Lavi from jumping and spinning around so he could get a look at the folder.

"Wait, we should take this with us to make farther investigations."

"No!" They heard Lenalee hiss from outside the room "What do we do if she gets back and notices that it's gone?"

"We… tell her that Kanda took it while sneaking in here to watch her sleep?"

"That won't help the situation at all." Shakil said with a disturbed look.

"I'll come in; we take a quick peak, and then put it back. Okay?" Lenalee gave no room for argument as she crossed the room with quick steps.

"Okay, but hurry up!"

"I wanna open it!" Lavi was so excited to finally read the "diary", even if it was a bit disappointed of the simple appearance of it. No pink hearts, no lovepoems scribbled down in cursive… just the word STALKK in big, bold letters.

They all sat down on the floor in a circle and Lavi opened the folder carefully, as if it was the original script of the Odyssey…

_Loggbok dag 1, kväll_

_Det här suger. Operation STALKK suger. __Hur ska man kunna komma underfund med en person som inte gör annat än tränar, äter och sedan sover?_

_Loggbok dag 2, kväll…_

"It's in Swedish!" Shakil let out a loud sigh and buried his face in his hands. Had they gone through all this for nothing?

"What are we going to do now?" Lenalee asked.

"You're just lucky you've got the Genious on your side. I wouldn't make a good Bookman if I didn't speak almost every language there is, right?" Lavi grinned at his comrades and for a moment he was thankful for all the tutoring he had to go through with Bookman, including language-studies.

"So you can translate it?" Shakil's face lit up.

"Of course!"

_Log d__ay 1, evening_

_This sucks. Operation STALKK sucks. How are you supposed to figure out a person who does nothing but train then eats and then sleeps?_

_Log day 2, evening_

_I noticed something in the training area today (I was heading already heading there, I wasn't trying to spy on him shirtless like some creep! And why am I making excuses to a piece of paper?). Anyway, he has this tattoo, it's some sort of symbol. I've seen a similar sign before, when travelling through Asia. It's Sanskrit, and important in Hinduism. But I don't know what it means._

_Log day 3, afternooon_

_I just came back from the library, and I saw the target of investigation staring at Lavi like he killed his soba. Strange as it sounds though, he didn't make a scene or any death threats, he just went out and stormed down the corridor. At least I didn't have to clean up any chopped off bodyparts. Otherwise nothing interesting happened today._

_Log day __4, morning_

_I went up oh so early to prepare for today and all the stalking I will do (isn't there a better word for it that doesn't sound so illegal?)._

_I'll start at breakfast, but first I'm going to sleep a bit more…_

_Log day 4, evening_

_Did I mention that this sucks? If nothing happens tomorrow, I give up._

_Log day __5, evening_

_Oh. My. GOD. _

_The apocalypse is here. _

_I went to breakfast and then… this is too freaking weird, but I was just minding my own business by myself when I hear this gruff, male voice behind me saying "Is this seat taken?"_

_I didn't recognize it at first and was too occupied with my food to care, so I just nodded and he sat down. Then, with my mouth full of food, I turned to see who it was and in my surprise I choked. I mean I literally choked on my food, I thought I was going to die!_

_Anyway the thing was, that the gruff man beside me was none other then you know who! And there were plenty of other seats at __**empty**__ tables he could sit by, like he usually does._

_And as if this wasn't enough; he talked. Not much, but he talked, asked questions and stuff._

"_Where did you say you come from?"_

"_Who was your general?"_

"_Where is baka usagi?" (well that's not an odd question, but I just answered "no" and then he said, "we'll you usually hang out." Like he NOTICED or something)_

_Okay so it wasn't like it ws all that personal, but still. He could have just sat somewhere else and then drop by to ask for Lavi. _

_I think I have to go to the cafeteria and get some tea and then head straight to bed. Maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and realize that it was just my imagination, that I'm crazy and hallucinating. Probably._

"What do we make of this?"

Lavi, Lenalee and Shakil all sat in Iulia's room for a moment, a bit perplexed because of what they just read. Lenalee was mostly surprised at the fact that Iulia even kept a journal (or whatever it was), Shakil didn't really accept that his new friend was a stalker and Lavi was trying to find any indication of when this was written. He did see something by the last entry… 24th of Semtember, 10.42 PM…

Okay and today was…

"Lenalee, what day is it today?"

"You have a photographic memory and you can't remember that it's Wednesday?"

"No I meant the date!"

"24th."

"What time is it?"

"Just a little past 11, why?

"We have got to go now, she'll be back any second!" Lavi started to panic.

"Keep quiet!" Shakil hissed at him "why do you say that?"

"Look at the last entry, it wont take her forever to get tea and-"

"What. The. **Hell.** Are you doing with that you bloody trespassers!"

Shit.

*************************************'

And that is all for now mei amici, But you'll get an update soon! Anyway, the title simply means "In English" and I couldn't come up with anything more creative today, but of course it refers to their little translation-part.


	10. NOTE TO READERS

Ohisashiburi da ne…

As you can see this isn't a new chapter, but that is because I am in the process of **rewriting the whole story**. Right now I'm not satisfied with it and I can't find any motivation to continue if I think it's just going to be a complete waste of everyone's time.

Anyway, I will start posting new chapters on the revised version in a while and hopefully it will be a lot better! It will still be the same basic idea though and the first few chapters will be similar (if not identical) and it'll still be about my darling Iulia (an oc is sort of like your kid, ne?) but it'll probably take some other turns and, well, we'll see where the road leads to.

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